125 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
THE cNiATIONAL It is a great tribute to the genius 
CATITcAL. of Charles Peter L’Enfant, who 
made the original plan for the lay- 
ing out of Washington, D. C., under the directions of 
George Washington, that the experts, recently appoint- 
ed a commission by act of congress to devise means of 
beautifying the city of Washington, have concluded 
that the best thing to do is to return to the original 
plan designed by that gentleman. This included a 
great tree-shaded mall, and in addition the commission 
suggests the reclaiming of the Anacostia River, the fill- 
ing in of the flats for park purposes, the use of the 
Potomac for a comprehensive system of fountains and 
an artistic treatment of the water front. Washington 
is magnificently situated for grand treatment, and is 
already one of the most beautiful cities in the world, 
notwithstanding that it is a comparatively modern cap- 
ital. The grand pile of national buildings located so 
as to command all the surrounding beauties lends itself 
to a scheme of improvement commensurate with the 
dignity attaching to the capital city of the United 
States. In his recent “Impressions of America,” Mr. 
Frederic Harrison, the English writer, says; “It is 
the only capital which has been laid out from the first 
entirely on modern lines, with organic unity of plan, 
unincumbered with any antique limitations and confu- 
sions.” And upon such a foundation we may well ex- 
pect surpassing results from the men now' commis- 
sioned to complete the city. 
WOMAN’S The decision of the Woman’s 
WORK 1^ Auxiliary of the American Park 
CIVIC ‘BEAUTY. Outdoor Art Association to 
enter an exhibit comprising photographs of work ac- 
complished, and facts concerning its organization, at 
the exposition of modern decorative art to be held in 
Turin, Italy, in 1902, calls to mind the importance of 
the work done by women in beautifying public places 
in many localities. Branches of the Auxiliary in Chi- 
cago and Milwaukee are applying themselves with 
commendable zeal and encouraging success to the vast 
field of usefulness in the two lake cities, and many of 
the foremost improvement workers throughout the 
country are women. The “Woman’s Board of Trade,” 
of Santa Fe, New'^ Mexico, first organized for the pur- 
pose of sending an exhibit to the World’s Fair in 1893, 
has become a permanent organization, and by beautify- 
ing the plaza, or public square, has furnished an object 
lesson that has become contagious throughout the city. 
Examples of this character could be multiplied in- 
definitely and are given each month in our department 
of improvement associations. These few instances 
will suffice to indicate that woman’s native sense of 
beauty is one of the strongest factors in the present 
crusade against ugliness and dirt. Her place in poli- 
tics and business may still be an open question, but 
there can be no manner of question as to the value of 
her work in making beautiful our public places and 
home surroundings. 
c/1 cNEW The astonishing growth 
of philanthropic endeavor 
which has characterized the 
closing years of the century just ended has been so 
strongly evident in the direction of educational institu- 
tions that we are prone to overlook the needs 
and possibilities in other directions. The mil- 
lions that have been showered upon colleges and 
universities have dazzled the public eye, and obscured 
the many private donations of land and monev 
that have been given to public parks. Many 
cities — especially the smaller ones — have parks which 
are monuments to the beneficence of their citizens. 
Some of these that can be readily called to mind are 
Hubbard Park, Meriden, Conn., Keney Park, Hart- 
ford, Conn., Pettibone Park, La Crosse, Wis., and a 
growing list of those in smaller towms that have been 
mentioned in Park and Cemetery from time to time. 
That few of such gifts have been made in large cities, 
is probably due to the fact that the colossal efforts re- 
quired to duplicate such parks as Fairmount and Pros- 
pect have discouraged individual benevolence in that 
direction. But with the recent movements toward the 
establishment of small parks and playgrounds in all of 
the large cities this feeling need no longer be felt, and 
our public-spirited millionaires can find no more use- 
ful way of benefiting humanity than by gifts to the 
work of park building. 
THE cI{EW BUREc4h The advancement of the 
OF FORESTRY. Division of Forestry to the 
rank of the Bureau of Forestry, and the increase of the 
appropriation for its work from $88,520 to $185,440, 
has fnet with universal commendation. The work of 
the forestry department has long since demonstrated 
its usefulness, and the extension of the scope of its 
work is eminently in keeping with the rapid increase 
in the number and area of national and state parks and 
forest reservations. The national forest reserves now 
have a total area of 57,000,000 acres, and many states 
are acquiring new territory for their state parks. The 
addition of the Appalachian forest reserve in Virginia, 
North Carolina and Tennessee, which will in all prob- 
ability be made by the next congress, will furnish an 
additional field of usefulness for the new bureau. The 
government can do no more important work than to 
continue the preservation and development of our for- 
est areas, and the larger financial resources of the 
Bureau, with the increased scope of its work, give 
promise of soon placing our hitherto backward indus- 
try of forestry on a footing commensurate with our 
other national enterprises, and on a scale comparable 
to that of European countries. 
